Did you get your cereal with your Star?

Dateline: Sun 01 Aug 2010

If you have home delivery, you may have received your Star this morning in a big fat plastic bag advertising General MIlls, with two small sample boxes of breakfast cereal inside -- Gannett must know the readership is aging, because the cereals are Total (plus Omega-3s) and, more tellingly, Fiber ONE.

I am so embarrassed.

Also, exec editor Dennis Ryerson pontificates again about saving our children on A-1, yet, a task that seemingly will be accomplished if all the good readers of the newspaper become volunteers in various do-gooder programs. I say Gannett should put its money where its mouth is and create an educational foundation for Central Indiana youth; perhaps the wealthy news corporation could send some of those struggling, worthy youngsters to college. Or fund a charter school. Something beyond imploring and guilt-tripping.

Won't happen. As a former publisher of the Star observed to me the other day, "All the decisons (re: the local "product") are made in Virginia, anyhow." So Ryerson will pontificate, and nothing will be done by Gannett to ease these burdens in Hoosierland.

On a happier note, Matthew Tully has a good column today, taking to task Pat Bauer and Bill Crawford, biggies in the Statehouse on the Dem side. Matt actually tells it like it is re: an editorial confab with these two guys, who basically, are fresh out of ideas.

Maybe Bauer and Bill will devour their Fiber ONE and come up with something.

Comments

Ruth, so glad you articulated what I have been thinking about The Indianapolis Star's campaign to "save the children" in Indiana.I thought maybe it was only me and my cynicism.

You have a newspaper with steadily declining relevance and influence cajoling people (many of whom are already working two and three jobs to pay the rent; taking care of their own kids along with elderly parents, etc.) to sign on to The Star's campaign or else wring our hands in guilt.

Does The Star consider its readers to be so clueless about the social problems of families in Indiana that they must be pushed into action by the force of its heroically and powerfully pursuasive (that's a joke, son) editors and columnists?

And as you wrote, Ruth, Gannett needs to put up or shut up.

2010-08-01 17:32:47

hendy [Member] said:

They need a flag on the masthead. You can almost envision some meeting where they figured this out. They need coffee.

After going through a brutal, still-unfinished process with the SSA and the FSSA on behalf of my brother, I can tell you that the process used to bring up the bottom is completely obstructive and clueless.

No one wants to spend real money, the kind that's needed, for results-focused programs to give people a meaningful and productive life. So we give $33M to the Pacers.

We kill the IndyGo (an oxymoron of its own), so that we can keep the Pacers from snooting their way to some other hapless locale.

We can't drop rotting houses because we need to keep Conseco's lights on.

We have chuckholes that must remind WWII vets of Berlin after the war because we need to sell beer to B-ball fans.

$33M. Think about what that might do for real people in real need..... not the over-paid 'stars' of an NBA team and their coach and managers and executive staff.

Harrison, you're sadly still right... from the grave.

2010-08-02 08:21:12

ruthholl [Member] said:

Excellent observations from each of you.I am still laughing, too, over today's flag story about how vigorous Downtown construction is -- hey, we're talking Wishard and an extension to the convention center. The whole story smacks of a PR plant.Anyhow, I agree with all three of you. The Star is lame, the state is lame, priorities are all screwed up for both. Thanks for weighing in....

2010-08-02 09:09:57

Whitebeard [unverified] said:

Once again, Hendy nails it.

I haven't seen anything in The Star's "campaign" focusing on why there is such an ever-widening gap between rich and poor in Indianapolis and how that impacts children.

This is a city where the private sports industries line up for public welfare, while the Power Elite ignore inner-city neighborhoods - gunfights being staged on the streets nightly (many resulting in children being killed or wounded)....childen and senior citizens going to bed hungry.

Let's see The Star tackle that one. Oh, but some "toes" might be stepped on.

The Star is cajoling its readers to fix the symptoms while it ignores the "diseases" of social and economic injustice.

Got to avoid those tender toes.

2010-08-02 12:39:48

veritas [unverified] said:

Ruth:A couple thoughts-first,the only thing that can be counted on coming from Bauer and Crawford after eating Fiber ONE is their usual boatload of c**p.

It's true that much of the general public is overloaded with their own responsibilities of earning a living, raising a family, caring for elderly parents,etc. However, I know plenty of young, healthy retirees who could contribute a few hours a week volunteering within the community. Their time would offer others a lot. Instead, they spend day after day, night after night planted as couch potatoes in front of their TV's. What a waste.

2010-08-03 15:57:46

Tell The Truth [Member] said:

Myra is working overtime, it seems. (Sigh) Newsletter or newspaper?

Can someone ask Dennis about the total commitment Gannett has made to the community? Corps like Target advertise it freely--they think it helps their image, and they actually let shoppers direct some of the giving via designations.

Then again, a buck forty-five is hard to split-up, huh?

Crawford, Bauer, and fiber...I can't tell the difference. All can get clogged more easily than I like, and all smell, mostly because they hung around too long.